Cable stitch attachment for knitting machine



CABLE STITCH ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINE Original Filed May 23, 1958 Oct. 17, 1961 w. M. GOLASKI 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. M1725? A1. GOLASK/ BY WW w. M. GOLASKI 3,004,415

CABLE STITCH ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINE Oct. 17, 1961 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed May 23, 1958 INVENTOR. 14 4175? M GOLASK/ BY 2 Z W. M. GOLASK] CABLE STITCH ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINE Oct. 17, 1961 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed May 23, 1958 INVENTOR. 4175? #2 604,457

CABLE STITCH ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINE Original Filed May 23, 1958 Oct. 17, 1961 w. M. GQLASKI INVENTOR. WA/. 75/? M 601451177 BY flg we Oct. 17, 1961 w, GOLASK] 3,004,415

CABLE STITCH ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINE Original Filed May 25, 1958 INVENTOR. ML 715? M. GOL/IS/f/ Oct. 17, 1961 w. M. GOLASKI 3,004,415

CABLE STITCH ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINE 8 Sheets-Sheet 6 Original Filed May 25, 1958 INVENTOR. W41 75PM. 601/4370 Oct. 17, 1961 w. M. GOLASKI CABLE STITCH ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINE 8 Sheets-Sheet 7 Original Filed May 25, 1958 5 m6 mm a m A W Arron/2.

Oct. 17, 1961 w. 'M. GOLASKI 3,004,415 CABLE STITCH ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINE Original Filed May 23, 1958 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 INVENTOR. 1464172 M. 60145717 United States Patent 3,004,415 CABLE STITCH ATTACHMENT FOR KNITTING MACHINE Walter M. Golaski, 3339 Lancaster Ave., Philadelphia 4, Pa.

Substituted for abandoned application Ser. No. 738,593, May 23, 1958. This application- Apr. 1, 1960, Ser. No. 19,980

2 Claims. (Cl. 66-96) In the knitting of sweaters and other garments, or tabrics, cables formed of one or more cords are used for decorative effects. This application is a substitute for applicants prior application, Serial Number 738,593, filed May 23, 1958; allowed May 11, 1959, and abandoned for inadvertent failure to pay the final fee within the statutory period.

Cables are produced by criss-crossing, or transposing, stitches from one or more wales to one or more adjacent wales, the number of stitches transposed depending on the width, or the number of cords, in the cable.

Until relatively recently, cables were produced by manually transferring stitches from needles 1, 2 and 3 (for example) onto afirst three-point transfer finger, laying this first finger aside; manually transferring stitches from needles 4, 5 and 6 onto a second transfer finger, and then placing the stitches carried by the first finger on needles 4, 5 and 6 and placingthe stitches carried by the second finger on needles 1, 2 and 3. This manual formation required skill and consumed considerable time.

After eight years, or so, ago, cables began to be produced automatically but, as far as I know, this was done on a V-bed machine, or on a machine having co-planar front and rear beds. The V-bed machine is, described on page.5 of the November 11, 1957, issue of Knitted Outer- Wear Times, published by National Knitter Outerwear Association of New York, New York, copyright, 1957. The two-bed machine is described on page 23 of the November 1957 issue of Hosiery Times, published by the Bently Engineering Co., Ltd. of Leicester, England.

The object of the invention is to produce a simple attachment which can be easily applied to a single bed, spring beard needle, fiat knitting machine whereby cables having the desired number of cords are produced automatically and rapidly.

Broadly stated, the invention resides in applying my new attachment to the conventional narrowing mechanism of the machine and in providing means for actuating the attachment in timed relation to the knitting and in synchronization with, or independently of the fashioning opera ion sel a The full nature of the invention will be understood fr m, h fa ou ns ecifica ion and th accompanyin a n in whir s;

FIG- 1 is a, a en a nperspe t v ie of n y su h pa t .Qfl narro i mechanism f a sin le bed, fla ,v p n b a d u l fashi ne machine as a e s y o understanding the invention.

FIGS. 2 3, and 5; are fragmentary diagrammatic, perspective views illustrating the manner in which the transfer fingers embodying. the invention are mounted and moved to, carry out the invention, 7

FIG 6 and 7. a f a mentary, perspe tive. view i u a i v ctu ing vi es wh h. c n be. n r h e y u ed or mov n he tra s er fin ers a shown in F GS- 2,3,4 and5'. I

FIGS. 8, 9 and L0 show transposed stitches apart from e fa i FIGS; 8A, 9A and 10A show the transposed stitches and the fabric. V f

:FIQ- us a trssmemm ens d gramm t t p P an.

3,004,415 Patented Oct. 17, 1961 V 2 view showing details of some of the parts shown in the center of FIG. I. i i

In FIG. 1, I show the main narrowing shaft 20, narrowing guides 21, upper lace rod 22 and lower lace rod 23. These are the only parts of a conventional single bed, flat, spring beard needle machine which need be considered for the purpose of this disclosure.

In order to carry out the invention on a single bed flat spring beard needle knitting machine, I mount a transfer finger 24 having a single transfer point 25 on the upper lace rod 22 and I mount a transfer finger 26, having a single transfer point 27 on the lower lace rod 23 of the knitting machine, and I provide means for moving lace rods 22 and 2'3 in opposite directions to transpose fingers 24 and 26, and I provide means for rotating lace rod 22 in counterclockwise direction about its longitudinal axis and simultaneously rotating lace rod 23 in clockwise direction about its longitudinal axis so as angularly to displace fingers 24 and 26, or to take fingers 24 and 26 out of lateral alignment with each other and permit them to pass each other during the movement of lace rods 22 and 23 in opposite directions. Transfer points 25 and 27 will produce the cable illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 8A. To produce the cable illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 9A, fingers 24 and 26 will have two points each, and to. produce the cable illustrated' in FIGS. 10 and 10A, fingers 24 and 26 will have. three points each and so on. At this point, it is to be noted that rods 22 and 23 form part of the conventional narrowing mechanism of a conventional machine and are, lowered to engage the points with the fabric, as in FIG. 2, and are raised to lift the points to the position of FIG. 3, by the conventional narrowing guides 21. Also, if two cables are to be produced, another pair of points 24' and 26 can be mounted as shown, in FIG. 1.

Lace rods 22 and 23 maybe moved in opposite directions by the mechanisms shown in FIG. 6 which includes two mutually slidable racks 3 4 and 36 which mutually engage a pinion '38, and one of which, such as rack 36, carries roller 40. Pinion 38 is carried by vertical shaft 39 which is fixedly carried by frame, 39A of the machine. It will be noted that rack 34 carries arm 42 which in turn carries lower lace rod 23 and that rack 36 carries arm 44 and carries upper lace rod 22. It will also be noted that rack 36 which carries roller 40 is also normally biased to the left, as viewed in FIGS. land 6, by means of spring 46. It follows from the construction described that,

when rack 36 is moved to the right, rack 34 will be moved to the left by pinion 38 and that, when spring 46 moves rack 36 to the. left, rack 34 will be moved to the right. In other words, the movement of the racks as described imparts corresponding opposite directional movement to lace rods 22 and 23.

In order to move rack 36 to the right against the action of spring 46 and to permit it to move back to the left by the action of spring 46, I provide cam 50 which is suitably contoured with spaced high and low portions, and I provide means, such as sprocket 52 and pawl 54, for intermittently rotating the cam so that, when roller 40 is engaged by a high point on cam 50, it moves rack 36 to the right as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 6 and so that, when roller 40 rides on a low point on cam 50, spring 46 moves rack 36 to the left. Pawl 54 is actuated in suitable time relation by means of vertical rod 56, horizontal rod 58,

link 60 and arm 62, which is in turn vertically reciprocated,

rods 22 and 23 so that, when shaft 66 is rotated in one direction, rods 22 and 23 are transposed in one direction and so that,..when shaft 66 is rotated in the opposite direction, rods 22 and 23 will be transposed, in the opposite direction. Shaft 66 can be rotated in either direction and in timed relation with reference to the knitting operation,

by any suitable means, such, for example, as the mechanism shown in FIG. 2 of Richter Patent No. 2,033,301 which includes ratchets 43 and 44 and pawls 50 and 51 which are operated by suitable linkage connected to a suitable cam 96 on main cam shaft 13 of the said Richter patent. Rods 2-2 and 23 are normally biased by springs 74 and 76 in the direction of arrow'77 to retain fingers 24 and 26 in lateral alignment with each other, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. In this position, rods 22 and 23 cannot be moved in opposite directions and fingers 24 and 26 cannot be transposed.

In order angularly to displace fingers 24 and 26 so that they may pass each other whenrods 22 and 23 are moved in opposite directions, I provide lace rod 22 with an arm 78 which carries an upwardly tapered cam 79, and I provide lace rod 23 with an arm 82 which carries a downwardly tapered cam 83; Cam 79 is arranged to ride'on oppositely tapered cam 79 and cam 83 is arranged to ride on an oppositely tapered cam 83. Cams 79 and 83' are carried by supports 84 which are fixedly secured to a suitable portion of the frame of the machine. By this arrangement, when lace rod 22 is raised, the large portion of cam 79 rides on the large portion of cam 79' thus rotating lace rod 22 in counterclockwise direction about its longitudinal axis. Conversely, when lace rod 23'is raised, the thin portion of cam 83 will ride on the thin portion of cam 83 and lace rod 23 will be rotated in clockwise direction. This means that finger 24 on lace rod 22 will move upwardly and towards the person facing the parts as they appear in FIGS. 1 and 2, or from the broken to the solid line position of FIG. 11, and finger 26 will move downwardly and in the opposite direction, or from'the broken to the solid line position of FIG. 11. In other words, the movement of fingers 24 and 26 in opposite directions raises the lower end 25 of finger 24 and stitch 97 carried thereby well above the lower end 27of finger 26 and stitch 98 carried thereby and permits them to clear each other during the opposite directional movement of lace rods 22 and 23. In order to raise andlower rods 22 and 23, independently of the action of narrowing guides 21, I connect rods 22 and 23 by brackets 88 to shaft-90 which is carried by a bracket 91. Bracket 91 is rotated inclockwise, or in counterclockwise, direction about the axis of a pin 92 by means of a link 94 and an arm 95 which is vertically reciprocated bymeans of suitable cam, not shown, on the main shaftof the machine or by some other convenient timing device.

The operation is as follows:

In FIG. 2, the narrowing mechanism is shown in its lower position in which points'25 and 27 enter two adjacent loops 97 and 98.- It will: be noted that, in this position, cams'79 and 83 can be said to occupy an intermediate or neutra position in which fingers 24 and 26 are in lateral alignmentwith each other and, therefore, rods 22 and 23 cannot be moved in opposite directions because fingers 24 and 26wi1l'clash'. As the narrowing mechanism is raised to raise stitches 97 and 98, above the fabric, link 94 operates to raise rods 22 and 23 which, by the previously explained action of earns 79 and 83,. rotates rod 22 in counterclockwise direction and rotates rod 23 in clockwise direction, thus taking transfer fingers 24 and 26 out of lateral alignment with each other. In this position, if lace rods 22 and 23 are moved in opposite directions, the transfer fingers 24 and 26 can clear each other. With the parts in this position, the. mechanism of FIG. 6, or the mechanism of FIG. 7, is operated to move upper lace rod 22 to the left and lower lace rod 23 to the right, as viewed in FIGS. 1 to 5, to transpose the though they are still transposed.

transfer fingers and to criss-cross stitches 97 and 98 as shown in FIG. 4. While the parts are in the position of FIG. 4, lace rods 22 and 23 are again lowered by the operation of link 94 to move cams 79 and 83 back to the position of FIG. 2 in which transfer fingers 24 and 26 are again in lateral alignment with each other, even In connection with FIG. 4 it is pointed out that the parts are shown before having fully arrived at the position illustrated in FIG. 2. The narrowing mechanism now dips again so that transfer point 25 will deposit stitch 97 on the needle from which stitch 98 was takenand so that transfer point 27 will deposit stitch 98 on the needle from whichstitch 97 was taken. The narrowing mechanism now moves up to raise the points out of engagement with the stitches and lace rods 22 and 23 are again raised through the action of link 94 to take fingers 24 and 26 out of alignment with each other. Lace rods 22 and 23 are moved in a direction opposite to their initial movement so that fingers 24 and 26 are again transposed to their original position as shown in FIG. 2.. This completes the cycle and the machine is ready to begin the operation of transposing stitches in the next succeeding course.

It will be noted that after the criss-crossed stitches have been deposited on the opposite needles, as shown in FIG. 5, fingers 24 and 26 have to be raised out of the fabric, have to be re-transposed, and are moved back to their original position so as to be ready for re-engagement with the fabric, or to the position of FIG. 2. During this time the fingers go through lost motion in the sense that they carry no stitches on the way back from the position of FIG. 5 to the position of FIG. 2. Also, it will be noted that, if the lifting and transposition of stitches is always done in one direction, as in the cycle beginning in FIG. 2 and ending in FIG. 5, the resulting cable will have a definite twist or orientation in a single direction throughout its length. It is within the scope of my invention to eliminate the lost motion referred to and to change the appearance of the cable by eliminating the unidirectional orientation or twist. This can be done by holding the fingers above the fabric, as shown in FIG. 5, until another course has been knit and then dipping the fingers into the fabric to 'liftup two stitches which are transposed, or criss-crossed during thereturn of the fingers from the position' of FIG. 5 m the position of FIG. 2 where they are dropped on corresponding needles. After this has-been done, the fingers are again raised out of the fabric and held in position until another course is knit whereupon the cycle originally described is repeated. In other'words, the fingers carry, transpose and deposit stitches during the cycle beginning in FIG. 2 and ending a in FIG. 5 and during the reverse cycle which begins in FIG. 5 and ends in FIG. 2. ,This saves lost motion and eliminates the unidirectional orientation of the cable which would otherwise be present.

Also, instead of making straight cables,-it is within the scope of the invention to produce slanted or zigzagged cables of the oriented, 'or the non-oriented, pattern and this can be accomplished by simply racking the fingers inwardly or outwardly, in tandem, or independently of each other.

Similarly, it is the scope of the invention to produce patches oriented, .ornon-oriented, fragments of cables in any desired order in the body of the fabric. This can be readily done by mounting finger 72 of FIG. 7 and its adjuncts, on a shaft similar to, but separate from, shaft 66 and providing an additional pawl and ratchet arrangement. This modification can be readily visualized ifit is assumed that the structure of FIG. 7 is severed along the broken line shown in FIG. 7 so as to separate finger 72 from finger 71, andthen equipping finger 72 with a pawl and ratchet arrangement similar to that ently of each other to produce cables, or fragments of cables in a symmetrical or asymmetrical design.

In the mechanism illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5, fingers 24 and 26 are provided with single fill-in points 25 and 27 respectively, and are operative to produce the single cord cable illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 8A. If each of fingers 24 and 26 is provided with two fill-in points, the two-cord cable of FIGS. 9 and 9A will be produced, and if fingers 24 and 26 are provided with three fill-in points each, the three-cord cable of FIGS. 10 and 10A will be produced, and so on. For simplicity I have not shown fingers 24 and 26 equipped with more than one fill-in point each because I consider FIGS. 9A and 10A as constituting sufficient disclosure of this part of the invention and I want the appended claims to include the single fill-in point arrangement illustrated in FIGS. 2 to as well as an arrangement in which each finger is equipped with more than one fill-in point to produce cables of two or more cords.

What I claim is:

1. For use in a knitting machine of the type which includes a fiat needle bed, a first lace rod, a second lace rod, means mounting said rods for movement in opposite directions above, and transversely of, said needle bed, for movement towards and away from said needle bed, and for rotation about their respective axes, and means for raising and lowering said lace rods relative to said needle bed, a first finger, at least one transfer point carried by said first finger, means mounting said first finger for movement with said first rod, a second finger, means mounting said second finger for movement with said second rod, and actuating means for rotating said rods, and the fingers carried thereby,

in opposite directions when said lace rods are moved toward said needle bed to allow said transfer points to pass each other upon opposite movement of said rods transversely of said needle bed, and for oppositely rotating said rods, and the fingers carried thereby, when said lace rods are moved away from the needle bed to allow said transfer points again to pass each other during the reverse movement of said rods.

2. The structure recited in claim 1 in which said actuating means includes a first cam having high and low portions, a first cam feeler fixedly carried by said first rod and having high and low portions engageable with the high and low portions of said first cam and so arranged that, when the high portion of said first feeler engages the high portion of 'said first cam, said first rod is rotated in one direction and vice versa, a second cam having high and low portions, and a second cam feeler fixedly carried by said second rod and having high and low portions engageable with the high and low portions of said second cam, the low portion of the second cam being in registration with the high portion of said first cam and vice versa, and the high portion of said first feeler being in registration with the low portion of said second feeler and vice versa.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,034,990 Richter Mar. 24, 1936 2,110,915 Nogler Mar. 15, 1938 2,257,332 Clauss Sept. 30, 1941 2,273,675 Verbeek Feb. 17, 1942 2,286,805 Hurd et a1. June 16, 1942 

